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Winter Storm; Olympic Threats; Chris Christie Inaugurated

Aired January 21, 2014 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Comments: But let's get some more information.

Jean Casarez joins me now, our legal correspondent in New York.

And, Jean, I know police just held this news conference. They say they believe this may have been a targeted shooting. What did you hear?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is exactly what they're saying.

They're saying that they believe with everything they know at this point that the shooter specifically targeted the victim. We know the victim is a male. We know the shooter is a male. They have not identified either, though, at this point. This is now a coroner's case.

They say that the shooter walked into the building, did what he intended to do, they say, and then walked out. The call came in around noon. Within two to three minutes, 20 to 25 officers were at the electrical engineering building.

There was a question, Brooke, near the end of the press conference. We couldn't hear the question. But here was the answer, the classroom area in the basement. So if we believe that question was, where did the shooting take place, that was the answer. We do know the electrical engineering building is still in lockdown. It is an active crime scene. They say they are witnesses. They say the shooter is not at all at this point cooperating. They can't identify him.

BALDWIN: Not cooperating. We also know, even though you said the electrical engineering building is still considered a crime scene, the shelter in place elsewhere has been lifted on campus. What more do we know about what's happening on the ground right now?

CASAREZ: We know that it is basically back to business, because this is not what they say a regulation campus shooting where people need to be in fear.

So, although they don't have the identifications, they have to have enough information to know that this was a targeted hit, a targeted shooting. They're saying that they're working with local, federal investigators right now.

They are also saying that there are counselors that are going to be giving any type of counseling that is necessary to students. They said there was not a struggle, that, as you see from the video, that the perpetrator gave himself up outside. They also really are applauding their text -- they say their texting system, their e-mail system, that students got the texts immediately when the shooting happened, when they became known about it, and then they were able to take action.

But the electrical engineering building still in lockdown at this point. Public safety, they feel the campus is now safe, but the conversation they say will continue to be ongoing. But just once again, one suspect in custody. One is deceased. One fatality at Purdue University on campus today because of what was a campus shooting.

Specific or not to one individual, there has been a shooting on Purdue University and one person is dead -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK, Jean Casarez, if you get more information, let us know. Thank you.

Now destination East Coast. This massive winter snowstorm is just hours from blanketing the northeast and parts of the Midwest. And we have live coverage from every angle of this storm system moving across the country's eastern corridor, Zain Asher out and about in New York, Ted Rowlands standing by in Chicago, Rene Marsh inside Reagan National in the Washington, D.C., area, and Jennifer Gray here watching the storm system in studio seven.

But, Zain Asher, let's begin with you. We chatted last hour. The snow was really coming down last hour. And that appears to be the same.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke.

It's sort of starting to get really thick and it's coming down faster and faster. But it's expected to get really nasty in about an hour from now. So as the day progresses, we're expecting the snow to get heavy.

I'm just going to step aside so you can actually see what Columbus Circle looks like right now. Don't get me wrong, this is beautiful, but it is certainly pretty cold outside. We're expecting about eight to 12 inches of snow a little bit later on.

But the snow is not the problem. It's the temperatures, temperatures expected to really sort of start to freeze up, especially when you factor in that windchill. Minus-five degrees is what it's going to feel like with that windchill. But obviously in these kinds of conditions, the roads do get a little messy, certainly a little dangerous. We have reports of serious accidents in Long Island.

So if you have the option to use mass transit, that is certainly a lot more recommendable, especially because Long Island Railroad is actually going to be adding extra commuter trains to accommodate people who want to go home a little bit early. But I do want to mention that the city is certainly well-prepared, 1,700 snowplows, 450 salt spreaders as well -- Brooke. BALDWIN: We will talk about how bad it could get for you in New York. Zain Asher, thank you.

To Ted Rowlands in Chicago right now.

Ted, how is that wind?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, things are getting a little bit better. The wind has died down and that is a game-changer.

We're in single digits. But when you add the wind, we're well below zero. You can see down the Michigan Avenue Bridge, normally filled with pedestrians. Pretty much empty. Just saw a guy who was here on vacation from India. He was the only guy on the bridge for a while. He said, boy, it sure is cold here. I told him to come back in the summer.

The wind is the big problem. That's not bad. Today, we had the snow, and the commutes in Chicago were horrendous this morning. That's what's going to happen this evening on the East Coast. From O'Hare to the city, it was two-plus hours driving in. Normally, that's about a 40-minute drive. Snow really had -- gave some major problems today in Chicago, because of the wind, the drifting. But as it stands now, it's not too bad. It's just cold and uncomfortable.

BALDWIN: Some people out there walking along that bridge, bless them. Ted Rowlands, thank you.

Ted mentioned O'Hare. Let's talk airports. Rene Marsh inside Reagan National.

Rene, how many cancellations, how many delays are you seeing?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, if you're traveling, you don't want to hear this number. It's inching towards 3,000 at this hour.

But to put this all in perspective, on an average day, we see about 200 flight cancellations. So we are well above that. The airports that are really being hit the hardest, we're talking about Philadelphia, New York area, where we just saw Zain. Also, the D.C. area airports, they're getting hit as well. I can tell you that there's already some accumulation on the tarmac here at DCA.

We went down into their operations center a short time ago where they are paying attention to everything. We're talking about the temperature. We're talking about what is the temperature of the ground at this point?

They're looking at every single detail, because if they need to, they need to get out there and start treating the runways. Take a listen to some of the folks who are working 24/7 in the operations center here at DCA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEIDI SIM, REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT DEPUTY MANAGER: This is going to impact us pretty well.

MARSH: So the fact that this is blue now and this is in real time, what action have you taken already based on this image that we're looking at?

SIM: Based on this image right now, our snow teams are here. They need 20 minutes' notice and they're out on the field. All of the airlines are aware of the fact that our snow teams are ready. They're already de-icing the planes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: All right, so they're looking at snow. They're looking at accumulations. They're looking at the temperature. That is not just happening here. That's happening at airports all the way up and down the Eastern Seaboard areas that are dealing with this weather.

As far as airlines go, JetBlue at this hour seeing the most cancellations. I did reach out with them, to them today to find out if those new pilot rules we heard so much about the last time, if they had an impact on operations. They say not this time around -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes, a lot of people delayed because of that. I remember that not too long ago. Thank you.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: Well, let me move along, because just into us here at CNN, DNA tests have now confirmed the human remains found alongside the East River in Queens last week in New York are those of the missing autistic boy Avonte Oquendo. The 14-year-old disappeared in early October and police have been working hard to try to find him.

They have deployed dogs, they have searched sewers and waterways, putting up messages in local newspapers. We have even heard the voice of the mother in subway stations trying to find him.

CNN's Steve Kastenbaum joins us from New York.

And just awful for this family now to learn this. What more did you find out today?

STEVE KASTENBAUM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is really sad news for the Oquendo family.

His parents had really never given up hope that they would eventually find Avonte alive somewhere. And there was an incredible outpouring of support from New Yorkers, from all corners of this city for this family. Volunteers were showing up on a regular basis, a daily basis almost outside the school where he went missing.

And they searched high and low for this little 14-year-old boy who could not communicate, an autistic teen who was supposed to be with a monitor at all times. But, for some reason, as you can see in the video at the school that he went missing from, he was able to get away from his monitor or was left without somebody watching him for a moment. He walked out of the school and wasn't seen after that.

It's extremely heartbreaking for this family, who again really never gave up hope that they would eventually find him alive somewhere.

BALDWIN: Steve Kastenbaum, thank you very much with that.

Coming up next here, more warnings about bombers near the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Russian police are passing out these fliers, warning people to look out for these women, these so called black widows, women who could be planning a terrorist attack at the Games. Coming up next, what do we know about them and what's done to track them down.

Plus, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE CARRILLO, POSSIBLE ABUSE VICTIM: You realize that you brainwashed me and you manipulated me and that what you did was wrong?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Don't miss the rest of this conversation. The woman here says she was molested by her teacher as a little girl. She confronts that teacher on the phone. She posted this conversation online. It's raw emotion, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Winter Olympics just a little over two weeks away and Russian authorities are on the hunt for not just one, but three potential terrorists. You're looking at one of them, a black widow, part of Russia's extremist female terrorist group seeking to avenge the deaths of their husbands.

And her description reads like something right out of central casting. She has this four-inch scar across her left cheek. She walks with a limp. She has this stiff left arm that apparently can't even bend at the elbow. And these wanted fliers of these women, they are being scattered across hotels in and around Sochi, all of these women black widows. A fourth black widow killed in a gun battle over the weekend.

U.S. law enforcement agents have spent the past couple of weeks interviewing people right here in the United States with ties to the Caucasus region. This is the part of Southern Russia that includes you see there in yellow Dagestan. Does Dagestan sound familiar? It should, because that is where the Boston bomb suspects, the Tsarnaev brothers, hail from.

Let's talk about this with Bob Baer, CNN national security analyst and former CIA operative.

Bob, former CIA, you have been on the ground in situations like this. I mean, can you just explain to me exactly in the best detail as you can how are Russians looking for these women?

BOB BAER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, they have got their I.D.s. They're connected with terrorist groups.

Their husbands probably have died, but it's not necessary, but these girls are committed to committing suicide with vests. For the Russians, the problem is going to be that they're not they're not going to look like they are in the pictures. They're going to dye their hair blonde. They speak native Russian. They're going to put on fancy parkas. They're going to blend in to the Olympic community there.

They can check I.D.s. But, in Russia, these I.D.s are often sold. It's really sort of a monumental task to stop one of these girls from getting inside the Olympic Village with something like that. The Russians are very good and they will be on it. And I doubt they will.

But, truly, Brooke, the problem is the rest of Russia. I mean, how do you stop this in remote places, in St. Petersburg, for instance?

BALDWIN: Meaning, if everyone's eye is on the ball, being Sochi, with all of the security in the so-called ring of steel there, you're saying other places are not as impervious.

BAER: Yes, exactly, Brooke. You go for the soft targets. You always go for the soft targets. All they have to do is disrupt it, embarrass Russia. It's enough for them. Attacking a tourist spot in Moscow, for instance, anything like that -- how do you protect a big city like that?

I mean, there's -- these girls are Chechens or Dagestanis. It doesn't really matter where they're from. They're out for revenge. And it's a monumental task, as I said.

BALDWIN: And when we talk about targets, Bob, and it's not just, I know, security here, it is civilians. We know about the war against Russia that's been going on for quite a while. Are they seeking to kill as many Russians as possible, or are they not discriminating?

BAER: I think, frankly, you know, it's hard to tell, to get inside their minds, but I think they'd be happy with foreigners. Americans would be top on their list, anything to put pressure on the Kremlin, you know, to give up in Chechnya and the rest of these places.

This has been a terrible war for the last 20 years. A lot of people have died. A lot of potential recruits. And the Russians are nowhere near solving this.

BALDWIN: Is this a newer wave of terrorism, Bob Baer, the fact that we know this heads-up has been given about this attack, the location months out?

BAER: Well, they look more determined than most because these two attacks in Volgograd, they used military explosives.

If you look at the smoke, that gray smoke, it was very effective. This stuff shatters, rather than just pushes. And so they tried to get the highest number of casualties they could. The fact that there was one after the other tells me it's a military sort of operation, that you're seeing more discipline than you would in a typical terrorist attack.

BALDWIN: Bob Baer, thank you.

Coming up next, Chris Christie inaugurated today in New Jersey. Did the governor take on the scandals surrounding his office? Plus, a dramatic look at how the controversy is impacting how people view him and his potential presidential run.

Plus, this woman recorded a conversation, posted it to YouTube, has a lot of people talking today because she picked up the phone and confronted a teacher who she says molested her as a child. The whole thing has been recorded. We will play it for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: He is the youngest killer to die on South Carolina's death row. And now the family of the 14-year-old George Stinney wants to bring his case back to clear his name.

Our affiliate WIS reports Stinney confessed to killing two young girls. This was back in 1944, a 7-year-old and an 11-year-old. Right now, there is a hearing under way to see if the case can be reopened. The judge pointed out Stinney was charged, tried, convicted, and executed in some 80 days, and yet a cell mate says Stinney told him he didn't do it, again, according to WIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARMEN MULLEN, SOUTH CAROLINA JUDGE: I want everyone to understand that we're not here today to establish the guilt or innocence of George Stinney in this case. He may very well have committed this crime. It is to determine whether or not he received a fair trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: One of the Stinney sisters took the stand. Relatives of the murder victims stand behind his conviction and execution.

A California woman outs her alleged sex abuser on YouTube, and now the accused is out of a job as a vice principal at a high school. Jaime Carrillo says in 1999, when she was in the eighth grade, her then teacher started molesting her. Carrillo, who is now a mom, says she wanted to make sure the woman couldn't hurt other children.

So she tracked down this alleged abuser. She recorded the phone call with the vice principal. Until recently, she was a vice principal. This YouTube video now has some 360,000 views, and you will see why. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARRILLO: You realize that you brainwashed me and you manipulated me and that what you did was wrong?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And I regret it.

CARRILLO: Do you know that I am completely messed up, that I have so many issues because of you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I only -- I just wanted to help you.

CARRILLO: How is having a sexual relationship with a 12-year-old student helping?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't anything that I intended, and I didn't know what happened.

CARRILLO: It's completely shocking to me that you are an assistant principal. Are you doing this with other students too?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

CARRILLO: Is that how you help them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, not at all.

CARRILLO: You should be so ashamed and so disgusted with yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am. I am.

CARRILLO: How (EXPLETIVE DELETED) dare you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I regret it every day, every day.

CARRILLO: You're disgusting. Bye.

Somebody that's working with your kid in Alhambra in California. This is what she's getting away with because of the statute of limitations. Does that seem right? Do you want this person who just admitted to doing these things to me, do you want this person around your children? She's helping them. Wow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: HLN's Nancy Grace joining me now.

Nancy, I want to get to the statute of limitations issue in just a minute. But I'm just curious, of all your years prosecuting cases, how often would you see a victim confront an alleged abuser?

NANCY GRACE, HOST, "NANCY GRACE": Very, very rarely, especially when you say a victim, it can be a victim of anything, of a mugging, of a rape, of a carjacking.

But when it is a sex offense, hardly ever, hardly ever. Now, a couple of times when I was -- I recall specifically a serial rapist that I was prosecuting. Several of the ladies -- and I think it's because they gained strength from each other. They outright went after him in the courtroom. I was like, oops, how did she get by me and attack him? But what happened is that when they get strong, the way this lady has become strong --

BALDWIN: Over the course of some years, right. Right.

GRACE: -- over the years, you start to see attacks like this, confrontations like this. But, typically, I would say, anecdotally speaking, one out of 100 may verbally confront.

That's why this is so profound. And this means so much to crime victims.

BALDWIN: That's what I wanted to hear, just of all your years in a courtroom.

So now you see this woman, Jamie Carrillo. And she mentioned -- she knows the statute of limitations has run out after her ex-teacher. But do you think, are there any chargers prosecutors could file at this point?

GRACE: Well, there are some ways around the statute of limitations in criminal cases. I don't know how I can get one to apply to this, but there may be a way.

For instance, when you have past recollection occurs now, remembered -- past recollection remembered is what it's called under the law, because some crime victims, the pain is awful, they block it out. I'm very familiar with that. And then later in life, something will trigger their memory. And they will say, oh, my stars, our neighbor molested me when I was 4.

And they truly remember then in very, very rich detail. Very often, you can start a statute totaling right then at the time of the recollection remembered. That's not the case here. And I'm just wondering if some emotional defense could apply that says she was not able to confront or speak of the molestation until now.

And can we get a tolling of the statute under some type of an emotional duress argument or an emotional mental defect argument? It's very, very possible, I think. I'm not through with this case. I'm going to hope and work with the law to see if there is a way around it.

Right now, it looks bleak. But I just want to say one more thing, because you kicked this segment off with, to my mind, the single most important thing, and that is confronting the perpetrator, because this is what happens. People go their whole life and they think nobody, took up for me. I was a child. I couldn't fight back. I was molested over and over and over. Nobody knew. I couldn't say anything. Why didn't anybody take care of me?

BALDWIN: But the fact that she came forward --

GRACE: And they live with that forever. And her speaking out is what every victim wants. Whether you win the case or lose the case at trial, the fact that you stand up and you call them on it, that is what really matters. And she did it.

BALDWIN: Good for her. Nancy Grace, thank you very much.

GRACE: Thank you for bringing this to light.

BALDWIN: You got it.

I need to point out, CNN has reached out. We have not received a response from this former vice principal or the school district that they worked in. We're efforting that as well.

Nancy, thank you. We watch Nancy each and every night 8:00 Eastern. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Coming up, on the day Chris Christie's inauguration happening in Trenton, New Jersey, for term number two, some stunning new poll numbers suggesting some opinions of Americans when it comes to his presidential aspirations come 2016. We will share that with you.

Also, mom knows best. In the same interview when she suggests her son Jeb maybe shouldn't run for president, Barbara Bush says she loves Bill Clinton. Hear why next.

You're watching CNN.

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